“Prime Minister Tony Abbott has once again distanced himself from Liberal senator Cory Bernardi after the backbencher called for a new debate on abortion, railed against ”non-traditional” families and called for more flexible industrial relations laws.

“Senator Bernardi, a former parliamentary secretary to Mr Abbott, made the controversial comments in his new book, The Conservative Revolution, and stood by them in an interview on ABC TV on Monday.

“In his book, Senator Bernardi accuses some women of using abortion as ”an abhorrent form of birth control” and branded those who advocate for abortion to be available as ”pro death”.

“Senator Bernardi writes that the ”death industry” carries out 80,000 to 100,000 abortions each year.

“However there is no authoritative or complete count of the number of abortions, because terminations paid for under Medicare are recorded under the same code as a variety of other operations.”